CALGARY — Looking to build on a solid rookie campaign, Connor Zary is off to a terrific start.
Zary scored twice and added an assist on Monday to lead the Calgary Flames to a 6-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in part of a split-squad NHL pre-season doubleheader.
“You've got to feed off what you did in the summer and how much work you put in there and that gives you the confidence to come in here to camp, to pre-season, into the season, and to really be confident in your abilities and the way you play,” said Zary, who turns 23 on Wednesday.
Zary scored 14 goals and had 34 points in 63 games last season in finishing eighth in voting for the Calder Memorial Trophy, which goes to the NHL's best rookie.
Calgary's first-round pick in 2020, Zary has opened training camp playing left wing on a line with captain Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman.
“You try to find a little bit of a combination like (Andrew Mangiapane) had with those two guys, and Connor has some of the same characteristics,” explained Flames coach Ryan Huska. “He's maybe not quite the dog on a bone that (Mangiapane) was for that line to have so much chemistry, but he does such a good job of holding onto pucks and creating.”
While Backlund and Coleman have played together for years, this is Zary's first stint alongside the two veterans and the signs of chemistry were evident in the second period when the Flames erupted for four goals to blow open a game that was tied 1-1 after 20 minutes.
Zary gave the home side the lead for good at 5:14 when he went to the net and deflected Backlund's shot past Olivier Rodrigue.
After Zary displayed a goal-scorer's hands firing a shot just inside the goalpost on a perfectly executed drag-and-shoot move on the power play at 9:12, his line went back to work.
At 14:20, Backlund set up Zary again on a cross-ice pass and while Rodrigue got across to make a terrific pad stop, Miromanov was right there to shovel in the rebound and make it 4-1.
“They just play such a well oriented, detailed game and they've been two guys who've been tops at playing a two-way game in the league for a long time,” said Zary. “(Backlund) is a captain and (Coleman) has won cups, and when you got guys like that and you're playing beside those guys, you want to do your part and feed off them and learn from them.”
With the team having undergone major changes from a year ago with several veterans gone, Zary will be counted on to play a bigger role this season.
“I'd like to see him be a guy that's responsible defensively like he's learned to be,” said Huska. “Playing on that line, it's something he's going to have to do because we know that line plays against top players, but it also makes them more of a threat.”
Yegor Sharangovich with a pair of goals, Nazem Kadri and Daniil Miromanov, also scored for Calgary.
Mike Hoffman scored for Edmonton.
Dan Vladar got the start in goal for Calgary and stopped 18 of 19 shots before giving way to Waltteri Ignatjew for the third period.
At the other end, Rodrigue stopped 20 of 25 shots in his 40 minutes of action before he was replaced by Nathaniel Day.
With Jacob Markstrom traded to New Jersey, Vladar is battling Dustin Wolf for the Flames' No. 1 goaltender job. He's now doing so pain-free after having hip surgery last March.
“Obviously, at the beginning, I didn't play for six-and-a-half months, so I was probably more nervous than before my first NHL game, but I think my body felt good,” said Vladar.
Among his stops was a blocker save on Viktor Arvidsson on a second-period breakaway.
“After the first few saves that he made, he settled in, and he made some big saves for us tonight,” said Huska. “He looked like the Dan Vladar of old, which was nice.”
VYING FOR A SPOT
Hoffman, in Edmonton's camp on a professional tryout, played alongside Lane Pederson and Matt Savoie. He also logged 5:08 of power-play ice time. The 34-year-old has played 745 career NHL games with five teams after starting his career with the Ottawa Senators. He played last season in San Jose where he scored 10 goals and had 23 points in 66 games.
UP NEXT
Oilers: Visit the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday.
Flames: Visit the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2024.
Darren Haynes, The Canadian Press